wild flower
by Black Lilys
Summary: Lily Evans has always abided by the rules. She's never done anything wild or crazy...Or has she? See a different side of Lily and find out how she started dating James.
1. The Italian Fling

A/N: Hello Everyone! This story is written in it's entirety and is about 15 chapters long with a sequel brewing in my head. The Rating is for later chapters. Also, I'd like to make it known that I have nothing against the Vatican...I am just stating the fact in this chapter that they do not approve of witchcraft, which is obvious considering it was said they called Harry Potter evil or whatever. In any case, please enjoy my story and of course, let me know what you think! Thanks!

"All right Mum! I promise to write as much as I can, but I am Head Girl and will have a lot of responsibility this year!" Lily Evans exclaimed, wrestling herself from her mother's grip. Her mother smiled and stepped back.

Lily crossed the barrier for the last time onto platform nine and three quarters. A head of long blonde hair and another of brown immediately assaulted her.

"Alice, Emmy! How are you?" Lily asked.

Alice Jones and Emmeline Vance were Lily's two best friends. They smiled at her quickly and Alice answered, "We're great! How was Italy? Congrats on making Head Girl!"

Lily laughed and replied, "Italy was excellent, I'll tell you more on the train. Now I must go meet the Head Boy and deal with the prefects. Save me a seat and I'll come find you."

Alice and Emmy gave Lily a quick hug and hurried off. Lily made her way to the Head's carriage. She held her breath as she opened the door, but released it quickly when she found the carriage empty. She was anxious to see who the new Head Boy was. While she waited, she ran down the list again. Remus would be all right, but he was gone so often that Lily seriously doubted it would be him. The Slytherin prefect, Nott was too thick. That left Ravenclaw's Anderson and Hufflepuff's Macmillan, as candidates. Lily thought they would both be good at the post. Her train of thought was interrupted however, when the carriage door slid open and she was face-to-face with-

"POTTER! What are you doing here?" Lily shrieked.

James smiled in an award winning way and tapped his chest. "Now, now Evans, is that any way to treat your partner?"

"My... my... part... what?"

"Your partner, Evans. It seems Dumbledore has either gone mental or come to his senses and appointed me your counterpart. So we better start acting like reasonable people, we have an example to set."

Lily stared at James dumbstruck for a moment before she let out a sarcastic laugh, "When have you ever set an example? Is this another one of your pranks?"

James' smile faltered a bit before he replied, "Afraid not, Evans. You are stuck with me all year. Now, what's first on our to do list?"

Lily groaned inwardly. "What did I do to deserve this?" she mumbled.

"What was that?" James asked.

"Nothing... All right Potter, we have a meeting with the prefects to tell them what they need to do. Here is the Patrol schedules and passwords. Once we explain the rules and hand these out we are free for the rest of the trip."

James followed Lily into the Prefect's carriage and they conducted the entire meeting without yelling at each other. Afterwards, Lily went to find Alice and Emmy. She didn't have to go very far, before she found them sitting with, to Lily's dismay, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew. She knew James would not be far behind. She slid open the door and entered the compartment.

"Why Lily! What a pleasant surprise! How was your summer?" Sirius asked when he saw Lily.

"Sirius Black! Get stuffed!" Lily replied sweetly.

Sirius laughed and countered, "Do mine ears deceive me? Did the Head Girl just insult me?"

"I believe I did."

Sirius faked a look of heartbreak that made him look constipated. Lily laughed. "Sirius dear," she said, "I had a wonderful summer in Italy. I will spare you the boring details. How was everyone else's summer? I see none of you boys ended up in Azkaban. Pity really, I was looking forward to a peaceful year."

"Well," Sirius said, "I had the honor of watching Prongs the entire summer. We all know he can't be left alone for long periods of time. He might hurt himself thinking too hard about-"

"QUIDDITCH!" James yelled as he walked in the door.

"No Prongsy, I was going to say- OOMPH!" 

James had just elbowed Sirius rather hard in the stomach while plopping down next to him. The three girls watched, intrigued as the two boys wrestled around. Remus on the other hand, decided to steer the conversation elsewhere for James' sake.

"Hello, Lily. Italy you say? I unfortunately, had to stay in England this summer. I would have loved to see someplace like Italy. Congratulations on Head Girl by the way. I figured it was you."

Lily smiled; she had always liked Remus the best of the Marauders. 

"Thank you Remus. Italy was wonderful. We were in Rome nearly the whole time. Beautiful city really. Although, I did feel a bit awkward walking through the Vatican."

"Why's that Lils?" Alice asked.

"Well they don't exactly accept our type. I felt like someone was going to jump out at me and try to burn me at the stake. It is an amazing place though. The Sistine chapel was breathtaking."

James and Sirius had finally calmed down and joined the conversation. James was curious; he had always been intrigued by Roman culture. He ran a hand through his hair and asked, "What else did you see there Evans?"

"Oh well the Pantheon, the Colosseum, St. Peter's square and Basilica. I spent a lot of time on the beach though."

"We can tell," Emmy said, "You're more tanned than I've ever seen you. Meet any cute and mysterious Italian guys?"

"I did. My third day there, I met Matteo Sucini. He was gorgeous. Spent the rest of the time showing me around. They have the best nightclubs there. He took me to all of them! But it was just a summer fling. I'll never hear from him again."

"Oh! Why not?" Alice cried.

Lily laughed and said, "Alice, I never left him a way to get in touch. I'd rather not see him again. Like I said it was just a fling."

James was looking extremely put out. He had spent his entire summer pineing over Lily and she was having flings with Italian boys. He quickly disguised his feelings though and listened closely as Emmy asked, "Did you kiss him?"

"Yes, many times," Lily replied. Normally, she wouldn't have discussed this in front of the Marauders, but she was enjoying watching James squirm.

"My romance with him was brief, as it should be. He was wonderful while it lasted, but it would never last. He's Muggle and lives hundreds of miles away! I need something more real. Something close. We're adults now, I can no longer worry about silly flings."

"Lily, you act as if you want to get married tomorrow! We're only seventeen!" Alice exclaimed.

"Oh yes, Alice, you're one to talk. You're planning your wedding to Frank already and he hasn't even asked. How is he by the way? Still in training?"

Alice blushed but replied, "Yes he has one more year. But who cares about Frank right now, we want to here more about Matteo. Do you have pictures?"

"No, but he looks a little like..." she trailed off and looked around at the guys, trying to think of how to describe Matteo. It came as a shock when she looked at James and realized, "Well... he looks a bit like Potter really. Only he's taller, tanner and with neater hair. Plus he doesn't have glasses and his eyes are a bit darker. And he definitely doesn't act like you, Potter."

Alice and Emmy exchanged a glance and James turned a bit red. Lily was staring at him. 'Good Lord! How did I not notice it before? I spent my entire summer with a guy that looks like him! Oh I must be out of my mind! I just admitted it in front of the Marauders. I will never live this down!' Lily thought.

Sure enough, Sirius let out a bark like laugh and said, "My dear Lily, were you missing Jamesy here so much you needed a substitute? Certainly, this Italiano is nothing compared to our dear James. You may even want to give James here a shot this year; he's not that bad really. I mean-"

"SHUT IT PADFOOT!" James said blushing.

"What? I was only trying to plead your case," Sirius said innocently.

"Look, Lily doesn't want to be bothered by you about that. So let her be. We're almost to the station. Let's just go change. Coming Evans?"

Lily looked at James in complete shock. She couldn't believe that James was blushing and standing up for her. She finally shook herself out of her thoughts and stood to follow James. Once they left the compartment, he turned to her and said, "Don't pay any attention to Sirius. He can be a right git sometimes. Umm, I'm glad you had a good summer and found someone to share it with. Sorry it didn't last."

Lily raised an eyebrow at James and replied, "Oh, well like I said before, it's for the better. He and I really had nothing in common you know. I'm sure I'll live and find someone more suitable. Anyway, how was your summer?"

"It was okay I suppose. Nothing too exciting. I was stuck with Sirius all summer. You can imagine how that went," James replied with a laugh. 

Lily laughed along with him. James opened the carriage door for her and followed her in. He pulled off his jumper, which happened to pull his shirt up a little and Lily caught herself glancing at his stomach.

'Wow' she thought, 'He has a really nice body. Ugh wait! This is James Potter we're talking about here! No Lily; bad thoughts, bad thoughts.' She turned away quickly blushing. She pulled off her jacket and had a rather tight fitting shirt underneath.

James chanced a glance before he pulled on his robe. 'Damn' he thought, looking at her chest. He quickly turned away before she noticed.

Lily and James made their way to the carriages and onwards to school. They noticed a thicker presence of adults on the platform.

"What's that about?" Lily asked James pointing to a man with his wand drawn, looking around suspiciously.

"Oh you haven't heard? Well no I suppose you haven't not being home this summer. Well, Voldemort is getting worse. There's almost an attack a day now. The Ministry has put extra protection up for the school."

"I can't believe I didn't hear about any of this," Lily exclaimed.  
James just shrugged and led the way to the Gryffindor table.


	2. The Curse of the Big Mouth

Hi Everyone! Thanks to everyone who reviewed! It made me smile for the rest of the day! This is chapter 2 and trust me when I say I will update as quickly as I can Thanks also to my Thanks again everyone for your support!  
Black Lilys!

The next day, Professor McGonagall handed out the schedules to the students in Gryffindor. Lily was taking Charms, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Transfiguration, Potions and Muggle Studies.

Unfortunately for her, James was in every single class, as was Sirius. Emmy and Alice were in all of her classes except Muggle Studies.

"Well, we better get going. Don't want to be late for Defense. I wonder who the new teacher is this year. Dumbledore didn't say did he?" Alice asked as the seventh years got up from the table.

Sirius slid an arm around her shoulders and replied,  
"Dear Alice, the job is cursed. We've lost 4 teachers already. Fortunately, my wonderful cousin Andromeda has decided to take on the task. This should be interesting."

"Andromeda isn't anything like Bellatrix and Narcissa is she?"

"Heavens no. She's the good sister," Remus replied with a laugh.

"Yes, we like Andromeda and her little daughter Nymphadora. We think little Dora likes Remus," James replied making Remus blush a bit.

On the way to class, the group just happened to pass Severus Snape.

"Oi! Snivelly!" James yelled.

Lily grabbed his arm and whispered, "James, Don't! Come on or we'll be late for class. He's not worth it, honestly. Besides your Head Boy now. You can't just go around picking on people for no reason."

James shook his head, muttered "Get to class Snivelly," and let Lily lead him down the hall.

They entered the Defense classroom, to find Andromeda Tonks with her feet resting on the desk, waiting their arrival.

"SIRI!" she exclaimed when she saw her younger cousin.

"Meda hush! You're supposed to be a Professor!" Sirius said while a blush crept over his face.

"Hello Meda!" James said.

"Jamsey and Remy and Petey! Oh I'm so glad you all are in my first lesson and who are these lovely young ladies with you?"

"Oh," said James, "This is Alice Jones, Emmeline Vance and Lily Evans."

"Hello!" the three girls replied.

Andromeda beamed and grabbed Lily's hand. "Lily! I have heard so much about you from these guys. It is an honor and a pleasure to meet the young woman who can put them in their place!" Andromeda said with a laugh.

Lily blushed and replied, "Well I try you know. If someone didn't have some grasp on them, they would have blown up the castle by now!"

"Too right!" Andromeda said brightly. She turned to the class and called for them to take their seats. When everyone was settled, Andromeda explained that they would start by dueling one another. She paired them off and had them practice before calling them in pairs to the front to demonstrate.

Lily and Emmy were the first pair. They shot spells in rapid succession and ended up in a draw. Both were sporting some nasty bruises and cuts to boot.

Sirius and James were the last pair to go. Andromeda quickly realized her mistake in pairing these two. By the time they were finished with each other, they were a mess. Anytime someone said Gryffindor, James would yell, "I'M SECRETLY IN LOVE WITH THE ONE AND ONLY LILY EVANS!" In turn, James cursed Sirius to yell, "I'VE BEEN A BAD BOY! SPANK ME!" whenever someone said Hogwarts.

Remus leaned over to the ladies of Gryffindor and whispered, "Lunch should be interesting."

Lily simply smiled in reply and led the way to Transfiguration.

Luckily, for the Marauders, McGonagall lectured the entire time about N.E.W.T.s and did not say any of the words to set off James and Sirius.

At lunchtime, Lily and her friends sat at the end of the Gryffindor table and waited for the Marauders to enter the Hall. The moment they did, Lily yelled "Hey Siri! How do you like it at HOGWARTS?"

Sirius realized what Lily was going to do only a second before she did it. He turned to run, but he was not fast enough and the entire hall heard him scream, "I'VE BEEN A BAD BOY! SPANK ME!"

Sirius decided to exact revenge. He smiled at Lily and sat directly across from her. When she turned to talk to Alice, he waved his wand under the table and hit her with a nonverbal curse. Then he whispered the phrase to yell and the keyword to set it off. He leaned forward across the table and said, "Lily dear, did we have any homework?"

Lily promptly yelled, "I WANT TO HAVE JAMES POTTER'S BABY!"

The entire hall grew quiet and stared at the Gryffindor table. Lily turned red and fire flashed in her emerald eyes. "SIRIUS BLACK! I AM GOING TO KILL YOU! UNDO THIS JINX NOW!"

Sirius merely laughed and said, "I cannot Lily flower. There's no counter. It should wear off within twenty-four hours. Until then, maybe you and James should have a talk."

He winked at her and turned his attention to Remus before she could say another word. James was staring intently into his plate, trying to ignore what just happened. He had a plan to act more mature this year and try to get Lily to notice him that way. So far it had been working until his blockhead best mate went and jinxed her. He decided to try and lighten the situation.

"Evans," he said quietly, "Sorry about Padfoot. You know how he gets."

Lily glared at him for a moment, searching his face. Her gaze softened a little and she replied, "No worries. Although he did pick rather interesting phrases. Think he's trying to tell us something?"

James laughed and said, "Oh I already know how I feel. But having my baby huh? Don't you think we're a little young?"

Lily turned a tad more red and forced a laugh. Then her mind did somewhat of a double take. 'He already knows how he feels...Does that mean... No it can't... He doesn't really like me, does he? He was just trying to get under my skin...yes that's what he doing now...typical Potter.

"Lily?" Alice said waving a hand in front of Lily's face.

Lily snapped out of her train of thought and looked at Alice curiously.

"I was just saying we should head off to Professor Slughorn's class. We can't have his favorite student being late on the first day."

"Oh right. You lot coming?" Lily asked the guys.

"We'll catch up in a minute. Just wanted to ask McGonagall a question about HOGWARTS." James replied.

Sirius burst out again with "I'VE BEEN A BAD BOY! SPANK ME!" Then he added, "Yes, tell old Slughorn us Gryffindors-"

"I'M SECRETLY IN LOVE WITH THE ONE AND ONLY LILY EVANS!" James yelled.

Sirius went on, "-will be along in a moment. After we check on the homework."

"I WANT TO HAVE JAMES POTTER'S BABY!" Lily growled and left for potions.

The Gryffindors arrived in the Potions classroom with only moments to spare. Professor Slughorn greeted everyone with a smile and said, "Welcome back to Hogwarts-"

"I'VE BEEN A BAD BOY! SPANK ME!" Sirius yelled.

Professor Slughorn was thrown off for a brief second before he smiled again and said, "I see the spunk has not died out of our Gryffindors-"

"I'M SECRETLY IN LOVE WITH THE ONE AND ONLY LILY EVANS!" James screeched.

Professor Slughorn's smile faded and he said, "Now really! I don't know what you two are playing at, but I will not tolerate this behavior in my classroom. This silly game should have ended at lunch. If I hear any more outbursts the guilty party will serve detention. Now please hand in your summer homework."

Lily turned red as she promptly yelled, "I WANT TO HAVE JAMES POTTER'S BABY!"

"That's it!" Slughorn said irritably, "Lily, James and Sirius, I will see you all tonight in detention. My office, six o'clock! Really! May I get on with my lesson now?"

Lily fumed at James and Sirius as they marked the detentions on their scorecard. Lily ignored the Marauders for the rest of the afternoon, as she plotted her revenge.

Later that evening during dinner, Lily asked Alice and Emmy to cause a distraction while she carried out her plan for revenge. The girls promptly began chatting up the Marauders about Quidditch while Lily snuck in behind them. She quietly muttered an incantation under her breath and James and Sirius suddenly had pink and purple hair. The rest of the school noticed quickly and the Hall rang with laughter.

Lily smiled smugly to herself and settled down for dinner. James laughed and shook his head, but Sirius stood up and yelled to Lily, "I WILL GET YOU BACK FOR THIS LILY EVANS, IF IT'S THE LAST THING I DO!"

Lily laughed and stuck her tongue out at Sirius, who quickly replied, "Don't stick it out unless you intend to use it for something!" 

James smacked Sirius on the back of the head as Sirius was trying to discreetly, yet obviously hint that she should use her tongue for something to do with James. Lily ignored that and soon she was headed for her detention with James and Sirius trailing behind her.

"I can't believe I got a detention because of you two!" Lily said.

Sirius replied, "I can't believe you turned our hair purple and pink!"

James laughed, "I think the color is quite fetching. I might just keep it."

"You can't be serious?" Lily said.

"No, I'm James. He's-"

"Stop right there, Potter. Those jokes were funny the first eight million times we heard them. Now they are just a bit lame," Lily said as she opened the door to Slughorn's classroom. 

Slughorn was waiting for them and smiled when they entered. 

"I heard that your outbursts were not merely insubordination, but rather a very interesting curse. I say, how did you come across this one?"

James had a sheepish grin on his face when he announced that he invented it in his fourth year.

Slughorn laughed and patted James on the back. "You, my boy, are rather brilliant! You must join my little Slug Club and me next month. Lily, are you going to join us this time?"

"Yes Professor. I promise I will come this time, if and only if my other duties to not interfere," Lily replied.

James took this as an opportunity to spend more time with Lily and answered, "I would be honored to come. When are you meeting?"

Slughorn clapped his hands together and said, "Very good! The first Tuesday in October at seven. In my office! Now, on with your detentions! You will need to clean out the potion cupboards. All the old ingredients must be properly disposed of. You will only have one hour. Please finish as much as you can."

Slughorn left and the three teens got on with their work. James and Sirius were throwing things at each other and Lily had to deflect them into the bin many times. An hour later, they traipsed back to the tower to begin the homework set to them. 

The first week finally ended and the seventh years couldn't have been happier. They were buried under a mountain of homework and practice all week long. Late in the evening on Friday, Lily, Alice and Emmy were holed up in the privacy of Lily's personal bathroom. It was complete with a sitting room and a bathtub the size of a small pool. Hogwarts was experiencing a nasty heat wave and the girls had taken refuge by turning Lily's tub into a pool. They were discussing the finer points of the summer and some of the guys at Hogwarts. Alice told them all about Frank, most of which they already knew. Emmy revealed that she had dated three guys at the same time throughout the summer and broke up with each one before she came back to school. Lily divulged more details of her romance with Mateo.

"So Lily, exactly how far did your 'fling' with this Italiano go?" Emmy asked with a grin.

Lily blushed a bit and giggled, "Well I didn't intend for things to go as far as they did. Let's just say I got carried away in the romance in Rome. That's why I ended it completely though. We went too far too fast. If we stayed on the track we were on, I'd be married and pregnant by now!"

Emmy squealed, "LILY! You really went all the way with some strange and sexy Italian guy?"

"Yes. It was amazing. Besides, I am an adult now. If I feel like having a fling I can. In fact, there are a few guys here who may be acceptable. Of course, I'm not going to go shagging every guy that comes along, but that doesn't mean I can't have fun!"

"HERE, HERE!" cried Emmy.

Alice looked a bit horror struck and said, "But Lily... it's supposed to be special and sacred. You should really wait until you find someone who means something more to you than a fling."

"Lighten up Ali! It's the 70's! People do this sort of thing all the time! If guys can do it, why can't we? Girls deserve a little out let for pent up frustration too," Emmy explained.

Alice rolled her eyes and Lily laughed, "Emmy's right you know. And don't tell me you and Frank haven't messed around. You two have been together forever."

"Yes, but Frank and I are going to be married. What if you get pregnant or something?"

Lily shrugged, "Like I said, I'm not going to sleep around like some of the girls in this school. Anyway, I think that Diggory fellow in Hufflepuff is quite the looker. He may have to bump up a notch or two on my list."

Emmy had a gleam in her eye and said, "Pray tell Lily, who else is on this so called list?"

"Ah! If you must know, #1 is Eddie McDonald. I think Diggory will be pushed to #2, now there are a few random guys thrown in there. At the bottom of my list are two of the Marauders."

"Lily! A Marauder! Let me guess Sirius and James?" Alice said.

"Ali, you should know me better than that. James? Do you think I've gone mental? It's Remus, because he is not conceited, yet still cute and Sirius simply for his looks, rounds out at the bottom. If he were a bit less of a prat, he may move up a notch or two. James maybe would even make the list if his head weren't so gigantic! I mean he struts around here like he's king of the castle. Besides, he's not really interested in me. I'm just the only person who will turn him down. I think he and Sirius have some sort of bet. Look at the way Sirius is always nudging him! There's something going on there and until I find out what it is, James Potter does not make the list!"

Emmy and Alice exchanged a look and Emmy said, "Lily Evans! How daft are you? A bet? Be real here. James likes you! Everyone seems to know that but you! Why do you think he spent all those years showing off when you were around? He was trying to get you to notice him! He's practically in love with you Lily… and you're supposed to be top of the class."

Alice nodded in agreement throughout Emmy's rant. Lily looked back and forth between her two friends and then gave a shrug. "Well if you two are right about that then I suppose he can be on the bottom of the list. He may even move up a bit if he keeps up the way he's been acting all week. He seems to have grown up a bit!"

Little did the girls know the Marauders heard their entire conversation from inside James' private bathroom. James did a little dance when Lily proclaimed he had made her list. Even if he was at the bottom, he was still on it. The boys were shocked, however, to find out little miss innocent Evans, was not so innocent after all.

The following day, Lily was sitting by the lake with her friends, when Amos Diggory approached her and asked to speak with her. Lily gave her friends a smile and a wink and followed him a few yards away.

"Hi Amos! What can I do for you?" Lily asked.  
Diggory shifted for a moment and cleared his throat,

"Well Lily. I was wondering if you would like to have a picnic with me tomorrow afternoon."

Lily contemplated for a moment before saying, "Amos, I think that would be lovely. I'll meet you in the Entrance Hall around noon."

Amos smiled and nodded and then returned to his own friends. The minute Lily got back to her group, she told them about her date.


	3. Oops, Your Shoe’s on Fire

Oh its time for my third chapter of this story for all who like it. i must say I like writing this lily/james story and will like to say thank you for reviewing. lily and james will start dating in a couple of chapters and im thinking about adding a game of truth and dare but im not sure. Anyway please r&r

Chapter 3: Oops, Your Shoe's on Fire

Lily woke up early the next morning and began to get ready for her day with Diggory. Alice and Emmy helped her pick out an outfit and by half past eleven, she was ready to go.

She headed for the front doors and found Amos waiting for her with a blanket and a picnic basket. They walked out to a tree by the lake and Amos set up everything. Lily and Amos sat and chatted for a while about everything from Quidditch to life after Hogwarts. Lily had to admit; Amos was a bit boring.

Shortly into their picnic, odd things began to happen. Amos was attacked by ants, the food kept turning into little odd creatures, Amos' hair began changing colors and he also started speaking in various foreign languages.

Lily had her suspicions, but she kept them to herself for the moment. Whatever was going on was making the date considerably more enjoyable. Amos was frantically trying to make everything normal again, which just made Lily laugh harder as he was failing miserably.

A few yards away, hidden by the safety of the forest, Sirius and Remus were crouched low with their wands out. They were wreaking havoc on Lily and Amos and loving every minute of it.

"I don't know how I let you talk me into this!" Remus whispered.

Sirius clapped him on the back and said, "You are helping a very dear friend, while having a little fun."

"Yes, but if Lily thinks James has something to do with this, she will kill him."

"Not to worry mate. James knows nothing about this. He would kill me if he did. Besides she can't blame him if he's at Quidditch practice. Alice and Emmy also said they would take the blame. Lily is more likely not to be mad at them and they don't really favor Diggory. He's quite the horse's ass if you ask me."

Remus sighed and continued on with their date wrecking.

Amos was shinning with embarrassment, "Lily I don't know what's going on. I'm really sorry."

Lily stifled her laughs and replied, "Don't worry about it Amos. It was rather amusing."

"Well maybe we can try again next month at Hogsmeade?" Amos asked.

Lily replied, "That would be lovely. Now I need to go meet Alice and Emmy. I'll see you later."

Lily made her way to the common room at the same time James was coming in from practice.

"Hi Evans! Headed to the dorm?" James asked.

"Yeah. Want to walk with me?"

"Sure!" James said as he kept pace with her stride.  
"What have you been up to?"

Lily laughed, "I just had the most peculiar date with Amos Diggory. Strange things were happening. Where have you been?"

"Practice. What do you mean strange things?"

Lily told James all about her date and when she was finished, James muttered, "I'll kill them!"

"Kill who, Potter?"

"Sirius and Remus. It had to be them. I told them to leave you alone but do they listen? I'm sorry Lily."

James really looked sorry too.

Lily laughed and said, "I'm not too upset. He was getting kind of boring. Besides I had a feeling a Marauder was behind it. Sirius did vow to get me back for dying his hair. I guess this means war."

James laughed. He considered Lily for a moment and asked, "So are you going to Hogsmeade next month?"

"Yeah. I agreed to go with Amos. Felt bad for him, he was really embarrassed today. I just hope he's not boring next time. What about you?"

"Oh I was going to ask someone, but they are seeing someone else. I don't know, maybe I'll just hang with the guys," James said disappointedly.

They reached the common room and James headed up to change. Lily called after him and when he turned around she said, "I'm technically not seeing Amos." She winked and turned away.

Lily meant what she said about not seeing Amos. Unfortunately, Amos Diggory was a bit clueless and believed he and Lily were an item. He followed Lily to every class and carried her books for her. He awkwardly tried many times to kiss her, only to have her turn away so he got a mouthful of hair. Lily decided to use it for all it was worth. 'He's the one who assumed I was his girlfriend. I never said I was,' Lily thought to herself.

She let Amos do her bidding and never said a word otherwise. Alice and Emmy knew the truth, but poor James thought he'd lost Lily to Amos. James spent most of his time sulking. He watched the interaction between Lily and Amos with a frown and believed Lily had lied to him. When he wasn't sulking or in class, he was complaining to the rest of the Marauders.

"I can't believe Lily would go for such a wanker. What's she even see in him? I mean really! He's a Hufflepuff, he's not that smart, he can't play Quidditch and he's an all around boring person. Lily needs someone fun and exciting. She has to be confounded!"

Sirius groaned and smacked James upside his head.

"James give it a rest already! There's no way Lily is interested in Amos Diggory. If you didn't notice, she doesn't even kiss him. Personally, I think she just likes having someone fawn over her. He follows her around like a puppy dog and does whatever she wants. He's way too excited about this weekend and it's Tuesday! You shouldn't mope around anyway. She told you she wasn't technically seeing him. He's probably too thick to notice!"

"Did you say it's Tuesday?" James asked.

"Uh yeah, but what the hell does that have to do with anything?"

"Sirius, Slughorn's party is tonight! She's going to be there! We have to go. Come on we're late!"

James dragged Sirius to Slughorn's office, where a group of teens were already congregated. James spotted Lily right away and made his way over to her.

"Hi Evans. Having fun?" James asked casually.

"Oh hello Potter. Not really. These parties are too- er- stuffy. I only come because Slughorn would die if his favorite potions student wasn't here. I always try to sneak out after awhile but Slughorn usually catches me. I've already tried once tonight, I was going for number two any minute now. Just waiting for Slughorn to become distracted."

"Well I can help you sneak out," James offered.

Lily raised an eyebrow and asked, "And how is that?"

James laughed, "Easy. Sirius and I are masters of distraction. You of all people should have realized that! Wait for me by the door."

James rushed off to Sirius and they had a brief whispered discussion. Sirius nodded and went to head off Slughorn. James joined Lily by the door and whispered, "Good thing you're short. Quick, get behind me."

Lily slipped behind James and asked, "What are we doing?"

"Wait for a second. When Sirius gives me the signal we can walk right out. Oh there we go. Come on, back up slowly and right out the door."

Sirius had just 'accidentally' set Slughorn's shoe on fire. James and Lily snuck quietly out into the corridor and quickly made their way as far from the party as possible. As soon as they were out of earshot, Lily doubled over laughing.

"I can't believe Sirius actually set the Professor's shoe on fire! How do you all always get away with this stuff?"

James smiled, "Well we don't always get away with it. That's why Sirius and I hold the record for most detentions ever. We are just charming enough to want around I guess. If we weren't, we would've been chucked out years ago!"

Lily and James made their way back to the dorms. The entire way back was filled with random conversation.

'Wow,' thought Lily, 'he's actually being normal. He's not showing off or bragging or ruffling his hair...oops spoke too soon. Him and his hair. Doesn't it ever lie flat? Oh well it is kind of cute ...EW Lily, James Potter is not cute! I think I've lost my mind...I keep associating words like cute, funny and handsome with James Potter! UGH! Please don't tell me I'm falling for him! He's a bigheaded slug who only cares about jokes, girls and Quittich. He has a fan club for Merlin's sake! I cannot like someone who has a fan-'

"Lily?"

Lily blushed a bit as she snapped back to reality. "Sorry James, just thinking. What were you saying?"

"Oh right. I was just saying that Dumbledore wanted to meet us sometime next week to go over some event around Christmas. Any idea what he's on about?"

"Christmas? Well no. I suppose we'll have to wait until next week to find out."

"Yeah. Well I guess I'll see you later, I've got an essay to finish," James said.

"Night Potter."

The first Hogsmeade trip arrived and Lily waited for Amos in the Entrance Hall. He finally found her.

"Ready to go?" He asked.

"Yeah sure," Lily replied, "Where are we going first?"

Amos led the way out of the castle, "How about a cup of coffee? We could head to that little shop in town."

"Oh alright then."

Lily followed Amos to Madam Puddifoot's and they found a table near the door. The shop was full of kissing couples and Lily groaned. She really did not want to kiss Diggory. In fact she planned on breaking off whatever he thought they had if he wasn't more interesting.

He began to drone on again about working with the Ministry of Magic, when suddenly his shoe caught fire. Lily stifled a laughed and looked around to see Sirius a few tables away with a girl named Jessi. She also noticed James was with them and he was with one of Jessi friends, Becca. Becca looked as bored as Lily and noticed that James was ignoring his date. Lily looked back to Amos to see him putting out the fire while his eyebrows were rapidly growing. Lily decided she had enough.

"Amos," Lily said.

Amos stopped what he was doing and gave Lily his attention.

"Well Amos. I don't think we're going to work. I think I'll be going now. Good luck with er, things."

Lily stood up and headed for the door. She passed Sirius and James on the way out and gave Sirius a little pat on the head. Amos made to follow her, but the moment he stood up, his robes attacked him and he was forced to untangle himself before moving.

James brightened up a little after witnessing this, but he continued to ignore his date.

Lily walked through the streets, enjoying the spot of unusual warm weather. She wove in and out of the crowd, lost in her own thoughts.

'What was he doing with that hag? Becca is not his type. She's so flighty and obsessed with her hair and makeup. Blah...why am I even thinking about this and how do I even know his type! Maybe he likes flighty and vain girls...I need shock treatment... James Potter is not supposed to make me jealous with other girls... I shouldn't have even noticed.'

Lily set off for the castle fighting a private battle in her mind. 

A few days later, James and Lily met with Dumbledore.

"Mr. Potter, Miss Evans- please take a seat. How is term going for you?" Dumbledore asked with a warm smile.

Both students returned the smile and answered,  
"Great, sir."

"Now I asked you here because I will be making an announcement about an event at Christmas time. I will need you two to organize the event. I feel it will boost morale during these trying times. I will not tell you what exactly it is; however, it will be on December twenty third in the Great Hall at seven o'clock. Anyone fourth year and above may attend but are not required to. The theme will be a winter wonderland sort of thing and I will need you to organize some decorations. You will find out exactly what this event is at the Halloween Feast."

"Sir, why not tell us now? How are we to know what to decorate and with what themes?" James asked.

"You are both smart students, I am sure you have figured it out. I will not disclose any more information because you are still young and young people have a hard time keeping secrets. I do not wish to ruin the surprise. Good night."

"Good night sir," James and Lily said in unison as they left the Headmaster's office.

Lily smiled at James and said, "It's some sort of party or dance."

"Dance?" James asked with an eyebrow raised.

"Dance, ball whatever you call it. Muggle schools have them all the time. They aren't so bad really."

"If you say so!" James replied. "But any guy who isn't a ponce doesn't enjoy dances."

Lily rolled her eyes and made her way to bed.

Sure enough, at the Halloween Feast, Lily learned she was correct. Dumbledore announced that the school would be having a Christmas Ball. The girls throughout the school were alive with excitement. Most of the guys seemed interested in a chance to find dates with the beautiful girls around school, but only a few were actually looking forward to dancing. Lily decided right away that her light colored dress robes were not winter colored and she needed a new set straight away. She immediately owl ordered a golden colored robe. By the time mid- November came around, she had been asked to go with six different guys. She had still not given most of them an answer. She was waiting to see who else would ask.


End file.
